The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The Electrical Bay Temp gauge conversion

Changed from mechanical to electric temp gauge and sending unit. Hooked it up and get nothing. The posts on the gauge were not marked. Can anyone tell me which post is power and which is sending unit or if I may have another problem?

Did you use teflon tape on the sending unit threads? That may keep it from grounding.

hard to say is it a new guage or old ? manufacturer? is it 3 terminal or 2 terminal gauge ? if three will require 1 ignition 12v 2 sender unit connection 3 pernament earth 2 terminal will 1 ignition 2 sender connection . cletis is right above do not use teflon on sender as will negate the earth circuit senders should have a slight taper in the thread and will self seal
new gauges are maked I ignition S sender E earth
hope this helps andrew

The sender is nothing more than a variable resistor. Take it in your hand (disconnect truck wiring first) and hook the electrical post to an ohmmeter and the other ohmmeter lead to the ground or base of the sender. Turn the ohm selector switch until you get needle deflection or a reading on the digital meter. Heat the part of the sender that goes into the block with a match and the meter will start changing values. You can check the gauge by replacing the sender with a variable resistor once you figure out what wire go where. Now the cold hard facts. The sender and gauge are matched up resistance wise. If you don't match them you will get a reading on your temp gauge, but it won't be right. So why bother. Same thing goes for the gas gauge. This forum is full of questions from people asking why their gas or temp gauge don't read correctly.